wayne’s world – 1000 miles in four-day ride

Published:15:18Tuesday 19 June 2018

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Wayne Blair from Aboyne has just completed the NC500 cycle ride around the north coast not once but twice, covering 1006 miles in 95 hours.

Wayne, 46, who was riding a Cannondale Synapse Hi Mod Dura-Ace, started this challenge – dubbed the NC1000 – at 12.05 on the morning of Thursday June 7 and finished at 11.35pm on Sunday June 10. Very nearly four days and nights.

Builder Wayne had ridden the original NC 500 loop two years previously.

This time he decided to do it firstly anticlockwise then turn around and do it clockwise to gain a collective 1000 miles. In fact he did 1006 miles and 71,000 feet of climbing – more than twice the height of Everest.

Wayne completed the ride in a total time of 95 hours including three three-hour sleeps, power naps of 15 minutes and food and physio stops but his actual ride time was 68 hours, 27 hours of those standing pedalling.

He burned 42,000 calories and he recorded the whole ride on his Garmin activity tracker, which stopped showing the elevation and calories because it ran out of digits!

The bike was loaned to him by Cannondale at Cycling Sports Group, arranged for him by Cycle Highlands in Ballater.

When Wayne, completed the NC500 before, also on a Cannondale, his riding time was circa 36 hours and the whole event was completed in circa 40 hours including stops.

Wayne, who lives in Aboyne with wife Anna and his 13-year-old daughter Lexi, had two teams as support crew on this occasion.

The first team consisted of friend Ellie Flather and her team-mate Dave. At the start of the second loop Anna and Wayne’s coach, Ben Allum of Cornerstone Tailored Performance Analysis, took over.

“Wayne was having knee issues at 400 miles and I gave him physio on the second lap as much as every 15-20 miles as the muscles had a huge lactic build up and his knee was excruciatingly painful,” Anna said.

“About 50 miles from the end Wayne was pedalling with one leg but he was so determined to get home... his ‘real’ physio Mike MacKay was a saviour and had driven up from Inverurie to meet us.